


Epilogue to Vegas, Baby

by Fabrisse



Series: Transformations [3]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-20
Updated: 2009-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-04 17:53:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabrisse/pseuds/Fabrisse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hotch talks to Diana Reid while he's in Vegas with her son.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Epilogue to Vegas, Baby

Reid had upgraded his seat to first class from his poker winnings, and Hotch was glad to have the extra room. With luck, the seat next to him would be empty all the way to Dulles.

He dug out his book and a journal. He didn't expect to write anything, and probably wouldn't read much either, but he'd found from way too many plane trips before the team had the jet that books, and especially a journal, kept other people from talking to him. There would always be a few clueless ones who wouldn't take a hint, but others mostly respected these objects as signifiers of "Do Not Disturb."

He needed the time to think.

***

Yesterday, they'd checked out of his hotel before heading for breakfast and Reid's visit with his mother. Once again, he'd come in for what was supposed to be a moment. This time, however, Diana was feeling well, and she insisted that he stay.

"Do you play cards, Mister Hotchner?"

"Hotch, please. And I don't play often or well."

"My favorite kind of opponent." She smiled at him, and Hotch had found himself smiling back.

"Spencer, I'm going to teach Hotch to play one-and-thirty. Why don't you take a walk in the gardens."

"One-and-thirty is better with more players, Mom."

"It's easier to teach one on one."

Hotch wasn't entirely certain what had passed between Reid and his mother, but Reid left saying, "I'll be back in twenty minutes."

As soon as she was certain he'd departed, Diana had immediately turned to him and said, "If you hurt him, I'll make your life hell."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I doubt it. Deal three cards. The person closest to thirty-one points wins."

Hotch dealt. "Why do you think I'll hurt him?"

"I hope you won't, but I know a lover can cause pain beyond enduring." She turned a piercing gaze on him. "Don't try to deny you're lovers."

"No. I won't. Deny it, I mean."

She assessed him. "I have twenty-two in my hand."

"Pity we're not playing blackjack." He showed a three, a queen, and an eight. "How could you tell?"

Diana glanced in the direction Spencer had gone. "He's graceful. He was yesterday, too. Usually, he's so tense he trips or his movements are tight. It can take him to the end of his visit to loosen up enough to show his natural grace. You were with him yesterday, and he told me you'd been on a case together. Was it an adventure?"

"Children were causing destruction and pain. The youngest was fifteen, and the oldest was seventeen. We found them before they progressed to killing people."

"You're a father, aren't you?"

"Yes." He was a little taken aback at her jumping subjects.

"Any good at it?"

"My wife divorced me because of my job. And yes, I'm aware that's a superficial assessment which doesn't take a lot of things into account. I talk to my son on scheduled phone calls three times a week. Haley's nice enough to let me talk to him unscheduled sometimes, if things have been rough. I see him every other weekend, I get December 26 to New Year's day, two weeks in the summer, his spring break from school, and either Thanksgiving or his autumn break. I don't know if I'll be a good father, but I'm working at giving him what he needs."

"She's a bitch."

"What?" Hotch was startled by the assessment.

"Talk to him every day, even if it's just for five minutes." Diana made a dismissive noise. "And get Christmas with him once in awhile. Don't settle for what she'll let you have."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I think you could be good for my son. You're honest, even with a crazy lady, and you're willing to admit the relationship."

"But if I hurt him, you'll hurt me."

"It goes the other way too. If he hurts you, I'll have something to say about it."

Hotch's lips quirked in a small smile. "I appreciate that."

Diana patted his hand. "There are very few honest people in the world. My son is one of them. If he's found another, then he can live a life that will make him happy."

He thought about their job and the FBI's rules. "There will be problems."

"Of course, there will. Where do you think great love comes from? It's the struggle. I'm sorry you lost it once. Maybe with Spencer, you'll both win. Is he watching us?"

Hotch glanced at the doorway. "Yes."

She looked over her shoulder at her son. "Well, come back in. One-and-thirty is more fun with more players."

***

Hotch shook his head as he contemplated the breakfast he'd been given. Apparently, Spencer made certain there was no pork by requesting Kosher. He ate his scrambled eggs and stared out the window.

***

They'd talked and played one-and-thirty and other early card games for several hours. They'd even stayed for lunch, which was surprisingly good for institutional food.

As they drove to Spencer's hotel, Hotch said, "Your mother knows about us."

Spencer glanced over at him before looking back at the road. "Mom knew about us the minute I introduced you yesterday."

"How?"

"Did you think I sprang fully formed from the head of Zeus? Mom's a pattern reader, too. She trained me, if you can call it training. It seems my natural predisposition is from both parents."

"Which still doesn't answer 'how did she know?'"

Spencer gave him a small smile and said, "I broke my pattern. If I'd brought you in and mentioned a case we were currently working on, she wouldn't have thought twice."

Hotch said, "And you were graceful. Her words. You're relaxed enough around me to be graceful."

"Sounds like Mom."

"How did she train you? You mentioned the natural predisposition…"

Spencer had to think for a minute. "Henry fascinates me. And Henry with me fascinates JJ." His hands moved on the steering wheel, obviously trying to gesture. "This is relevant. I'm getting my thoughts together. Henry is quiet with me. I talk to him, just like I would to an adult, maybe a few more questions, maybe a softer voice, but essentially the way I talk to, well, you. He's quiet because he's listening.

"About a month after I was born, one of Mom's colleagues died. They found someone who could fill in for the undergraduate classes, but no one qualified to take the two graduate seminars. They asked Mom if she could do it. She told them I'd be in the room with her the whole time. For the next three months, I spent every afternoon listening to Master's and Ph.D. level students talking about Middle English plays or poetry. There are theories that intelligence in infants varies according to how wide the vocabulary is that they hear and how often they hear all the more difficult variations. I could recite passages from the Gestes of Robin Hood when I was a little over a year old."

"Because you were listening to adults talking to adults using a wider vocabulary."

Spencer nodded. "Family legend has it that I never slept during a seminar. I nursed during a couple, but I never slept. When Mom started correcting papers, I'd get fussy, so she tried reading them aloud. As long as I heard her voice, heard words, I was calm."

"And the pattern reading?"

"I was listening to things like the sociology behind the popularity of outlaw tales, or whether Swinburne and John of Gaunt were definitively the people Chaucer was admonishing in his 'Troilus and Criseyde.' I was learning the interstitials were important."

Hotch nodded. "Before you were weaned."

"Yes."

"Nature and nurture. It doesn't surprise me. It's nice to see it with positive traits rather than serial killing."

Reid swallowed hard. "It's nearly three. We have to get up around three a.m. to get you to the airport by four thirty tomorrow morning. Should we stop and get sandwiches or plan to order in later? We could go out."

"I don't plan to leave the room once we're there. Ordering in would involve putting clothes back on, so I vote for sandwiches."

"There's a good deli not too far from the hotel. We can stop and get what we need."

Hotch put his hand on Reid's thigh. "I won't get what I need until we're in the hotel room."

***

The moment they'd gotten into the hotel room Reid had pulled the curtains and turned on a light. He leaned against the desk under the window, just staring at Hotch.

Then he walked back toward him. "Tell me what you want. Anything." Spencer bit his lower lip, but didn't lower his gaze.

Hotch felt his cock go rigid at the intensity in his eyes. He swallowed hard, and saw Spencer's eyes follow the movement of his throat. "Teach me how to, how to give you a good blow job."

"I can do that. What else?"

Aaron pulled him close and began to trace his lips over Spencer's collarbone. "Fuck me. I want you inside me again."

Spencer's hands framed his face, and the kiss was long and gentle. "Come to bed." He drew Aaron with him sharing little nibbles and kisses as they undressed themselves and each other. "Which first?"

"Maybe you should make some peppermint tea?" Aaron said.

Spencer grinned as he walked over to the coffee maker. "Why don't I?"

***

Hotch took another bite of his pancakes and for a moment felt the heft of Reid's cock on his tongue, the rasp of his skin on his lips.

At one point, Hotch had found a ticklish spot, and Reid had used a hand-to-hand move to flip him. All he saw was the pout on Reid's face when he'd said, "It's no fun if you let me win."

Hotch had thought for a moment, and then tickled him again. He couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed so much.

***

Much later, after sandwiches and talking and more silliness, Spencer's touch on his thigh began to rouse him again.

He found himself whispering into Spencer's mouth, "Does this mean you'll finally fuck me again?"

Spencer nibbled at his lip. "Yes." He pulled Aaron down toward the end of the bed and slid behind him to rub his shoulders.

Aaron relaxed into the firm touch. "I still want to see you."

"I know. The mirror over the dresser shows the whole bed."

Aaron tensed for a moment, then consciously eased his muscles.

Spencer leaned over and mouthed the knobs of his spine causing Aaron to sigh with pleasure. "If it bothers you…"

Aaron turned his head and kissed Spencer's hand where it rested on his bicep. "I know. Let's try it. I think you have some kinks." There was amusement in his voice.

"This from the man who waited for my permission to let go of the headboard the other night?"

"I hadn't thought about it in quite that way." He gave a little hiss as Spencer's thumb worked a knotted muscle.

As the massage loosened him, Aaron relaxed into pure sensation. Soon he felt like Spencer's hands were the only things keeping him in his skin.

When Spencer pressed his lips to the nape of Aaron's neck, the electricity flowing down his spine made him ripple to his knees. "Both particle and wave."

"What?" Spencer chuckled.

"The sensation reminded me."

"That subatomic particles are both particles and waves?"

Aaron turned his head, and Spencer took the invitation to kiss him. "I felt like I understood what it meant."

Spencer smiled and mouthed his way to Aaron's ear. "Yes." He slid his hands down Aaron's flanks.

Aaron groaned as a slick finger slid into him. His cock stiffened in response. He could hear Spencer's breath catch in his throat; then a warm tongue traced his spine.

He was opened gently, more gently than he wanted. He found himself stretching back, eager for more sensation. He finally said, "Please."

Spencer entered him slowly, allowing him to accommodate. Once he was fully sheathed, Spencer dragged his lips over Aaron's neck making his spine ripple again.

Aaron wanted more sensation, but found himself held in place. He looked to the mirror in front of him and met his lover's eyes. The passion he saw shocked him.

A puff of breath against his ear made him writhe. Spencer said, "I'm going to try something."

"Anything."

His lobe was caught in Spencer's teeth for a second, and then Spencer wrapped his arms tightly around him and knelt up, impaling him with slick flesh.

Aaron gasped and moaned. "Yes. God, yes." He felt Spencer's chest move in silent relief. He reached back and grabbed Spencer's jaw pulling him in to a deep kiss.

"Eager." Their eyes locked in the mirror as they moved together.

"Like that. Good."

"Yes, Aaron." Spencer began to set a slow rhythm that dragged the head of his cock over Aaron's prostate.

A hand splayed over his chest, arm holding him in place as he felt Spencer rolling within him. Lips and tongue and breath etched his nerve endings as his lover tasted him. Teeth scraped along his neck, and his head rolled back against Spencer's shoulder.

The tip of Spencer's tongue traced his ear. "Look at yourself. See what I see." A few kisses along his neck made Aaron look forward into the glass. In his other ear, Spencer whispered, "'Hail my America, my new found land.'"

Aaron reached his hands back and pulled Spencer's hips forward.

Spencer moved his hand to Aaron's shoulder and drove deep, eliciting a fresh gasp of pleasure.

Their left hands clasped and Aaron whispered, "'Palm to palm is holy palmer's kiss.'"

Spencer dropped his lips to Aaron's shoulder.

When his other hand began to stray to his cock, Spencer playfully slapped it out of the way. Instead, he dragged his hand down the planes of Aaron's body and pressed hard against his pubis, fingers tangling in the thick, dark hair.

"Look in the mirror." He raised his eyes at Spencer's command; saw his body sweat-slicked, his hair matted, his own eyes wide with desire -- and Spencer's hands defining his skin.

Spencer's lips pressed against his ear. "Come for me, Aaron." His body arched at the words. He saw himself spurt and flow over his lover's hand, then felt the twitch of Spencer's cock, heard Spencer's whimper of pleasure as Aaron's body milked it.

There was something in the broken sound, the intensity of the orgasm that brought a moment of absolute clarity to Aaron: Spencer thought this was all they'd ever have. He'd pushed through his own block about being penetrated, given Aaron everything he wanted, and forbidden him to say anything about love to keep his heart from being broken. Spencer was making memories to keep himself warm at night because he feared Aaron wouldn't be there to do it.

***

Hotch passed the trash from his meal to the steward and asked for more coffee.

He hoped Spencer would call him when he got back from Vegas. If he didn't, Hotch would call him after Jack left and do the pursuing. He didn't fall in love easily, but he fell hard. And he was damned if he would let Spencer get away.

Besides, Diana Reid would hurt him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Deloris Pea for her efforts as my cheerleader.


End file.
